davka
{{Infobox company
| name = Davka Corporation
| type = Private
| foundation = 1982
| location_city = Chicago, Illinois
| location_country = United States
| industry = Software
| products = Judaic games, encyclopediae, word processors, etc.
| homepage = http://www.davka.com/
}}
Davka Corporation is a software company specializing in applications related to Jewish history, customs and traditions and the Hebrew language.{{cite news |title=Helping the amateur cantor to lead |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1188392550757&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=10 September 2007 |accessdate=2008-11-07 }}{{dead link|date=February 2014}}{{cite news |title=A textual treasure: Study while you write |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605871654&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=22 January 2006 |accessdate=2008-11-07 }}{{dead link|date=February 2014}} Founded in 1982, Davka is notable as the publisher of several early games for the Apple II computers including The Lion's Share (1983 video game) by Robert Aaron and The Philistine Ploy by Robert Aaron and Alan Rosenbaum.{{cite web
| url = http://www.lysator.liu.se/adventure/Davka.html
| title = Adventureland: Davka
| accessdate = 2008-11-03
| last = Persson
| first = Hans
|author2=Stefan Meier
| url = http://www.dadgum.com/giantlist/
| title = The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers
| accessdate = 2008-11-03
| last = Hague
| first = James
}} The company has published numerous software titles for the PC, Macintosh and Palm platforms including the ubiquitous Davkawriter Hebrew/English Word processor.
{{cite web
| url = http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/about.cgi
| title = About Davka
| accessdate = 2008-11-03
| author = Davka Corporation
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081005060153/http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/about.cgi
| archive-date = 2008-10-05
| url-status = dead
}}
Name
The name Davka comes from a Hebrew word that is difficult to translate. At times the intent is to say "exactly so";{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/05/14/bytes-38/3799d089-ea0e-4dec-92df-e4a64b7dcc8b |date=May 14, 1983 |title=Bytes & |first=Joyce |last=Wadler }} often, the word "specifically" can be used as a synonym, but it has many other translations.
About
In the late 1990s and somewhat beyond, its major competitor was
Jerusalem-based Torah Educational Software.{{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times
|title=For the Oldest of Lessons, the Newest of Tools - The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/circuits/articles/31libe.html
|date=December 31, 1998 |author=Jon Kalish}}
Davkawriter
DavkaWriter is a Hebrew-English word processing program for Windows. (A Mac version is available as well.)
Its built-in tools include a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a translating tool. It comes with the complete Hebrew texts of the Bible and many other volumes of Jewish literature. Its spellchecker recognizes both English and Hebrew words.
DavkaWriter PlatinumFrom an image of the box {{cite news
|newspaper=The Jewish Press |date=December 6, 2002
|author=Shimon Lewin |title=Davka Writer Platinum
|pages=41}} was reviewed in 2002, 2004 and 2006 issues of The Jewish Press, referring to updated versions.{{cite web
|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/scitech/electronics-today/davkawriter-platinum-4-0-2/2004/12/29
|title=Davkawriter Platinum 4.0 |date=December 29, 2004 |website=JewishPress.com}}
=CD-ROM - Soncino Classics Collection=
Davka also released a CD-ROM named Soncino Classics Collection that contains:{{cite web |website=The New York Times
|date=December 31, 1998
|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/circuits/articles/31libe-fonc.html
|title=From the Torah to the Zohar - Soncino Classics Collection}}
- Hebrew and English of Tanach
- Aramaic and English of the Soncino Talmud
- Soncino Midrash Rabbah
- Soncino Zohar
In addition to The New York Times{{'}} 9 paragraph 1998 review, a full page was devoted in The Jewish Press to this CD in 2003.{{cite news
|newspaper=The Jewish Press
|date=May 30, 2003 |author=Shimon Lewin |title=Soncino Classics Collection
|page=36}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.davka.com/}}
- [http://www.davkawriter.com DavkaWriter website]
- [https://www.jta.org/1997/06/05/life-religion/features/around-the-jewish-world-move-over-barbies-cd-rom-jewish-iq-baseball-scores-big "Jewish software runs the gamut, from educational games to printing programs to advanced research tools for the scholar" : a JTA comparative overview]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Companies based in Chicago
Category:Jewish printing and publishing
Category:Privately held companies based in Illinois
Category:Video game companies of the United States
Category:Windows word processors
Category:Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew
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